Palestinians
with the Palestinian flag in the Gaza Strip. Sweden joins seven EU
members in eastern Europe and the Mediterranean in recognising the
Palestinian state. Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/NurPhoto/Corbis

Sweden has officially recognised the state of Palestine, the Swedish
foreign minister said, less than a month after Stockholm announced its
intention to make the controversial move.

“Today the government takes the decision to recognise the state of
Palestine,” Margot Wallström said in a statement published in the Dagens
Nyheter newspaper on Thursday.

“It is an important step that confirms the Palestinians’ right to
self-determination,” the foreign minister said. “We hope that this will
show the way for others.”

Israel says the Palestinians can only receive their promised state
through direct negotiations and not through other diplomatic channels.

Seven EU member states have already recognised a Palestinian state –
Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and
Romania. Non-EU member Iceland is the only other western European nation
to have done so.

The US cautioned Sweden against recognition, calling it “premature”
and saying the Palestinian state could only come through a negotiated
solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
In Thursday’s announcement, Wallström said: “The government considers
that international law criteria for recognition of a Palestinian state
have been fulfilled.”

A spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed Sweden’s decision, describing it as “brave and historic”.

“All countries of the world that are still hesitant to recognise our
right to an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with
East Jerusalem as its capital, [should] follow Sweden’s lead,” his
spokesman quoted him as saying.